Lots of momentum today, spurring me on toward the end; I had to make myself stop and take a picture. My eyes feel as if Mr. Sandman has been throwing sand in them for hours, but I wish I could stay awake and keep going, it’s so close!

There are 189 pieces left (I was WAY off yesterday when I said there were about 600 pieces remaining) and I’m hopeful that I will be able to complete this section tomorrow. Good thing I’ve got my Snow White soundtrack ready to sing along to! *Heigh ho! Heigh ho!  Just one more day to go!*

Grocery shopping is first on my list of tasks to accomplish tomorrow; my family for some bizarre reason expects that there be food in the house 😉 So after trips to 2 stores I hope to be home for the remainder of the day and not in too much pain to be able to work on the puzzle. I think my family would really enjoy making their own sandwiches for dinner, don’t you? It’ll be like a picnic!

Stay tuned everyone, I hope to have pictures of the completed section in 24 hours!

So much accomplished today with the help of my hubby! Got all the dark blue between the edges and filmstrip finished, and even got a few twinklies done. It’s looking gorgeous, and I’m super proud of myself even though it isn’t even finished yet!

I will admit, though, that I did not have the top edge assembled correctly, and had to remove most of the edge pieces at the top before finishing the inside pieces. Once I had all the regular dark blue pieces inserted correctly I was then able to put the edges in their proper place. Even then, you must be very careful and look closely because there were several pieces that fit perfectly in more than 1 spot, and only when you look carefully can you see that the images do not line up perfectly. This is not a problem I have ever encountered with a Ravensburger puzzle, but perhaps because this is a specialty puzzle with a much larger piece count it was more difficult to come up with a template that had no repeating patterns. Next section of the puzzle, the edge will be the next to the last thing I assemble for sure!

There are probably around 600 pieces or so left. I didn’t keep track from the beginning, but I will when I start the next section. There are still a few days of work left to do, depending on how much I am able to work on it, but the end is near 🙂 The twinklies are going to be the most difficult part as far as I can tell, but hopefully it won’t be too terribly time consuming.

I can’t tell you how much better I feel now that the missing piece has been found! Thank goodness! I was very upset with myself and certain it had been vacuumed up and thrown away, or chewed to a pulp by my beloved Boston Terrier, I am so happy I was wrong 🙂 The little guy was hiding under the sheets of paper I use in the bottom of my trays. I’m not sure what made me go through all my empty trays, but I’m so glad I did!

I was hanging out with my mom today, which is our usual Friday ritual, so progress was extremely limited for the day. I was only able to add about 70 pieces; not only was I away from home most of the day, but progress has slowed greatly. I’m left with dark/solid colors, and the twinklies. There isn’t really a section of the puzzle that I can pick out and put together by color, so I am searching for pieces one at a time for the most part. It’s much more time consuming, but I know I will get there eventually. On the plus side, the inside of the puzzle is finally finished. All that is left is filling in the dark blue sections between the border and the filmstrip, and the two twinkly sides.

My mood has also improved some, which is most likely a combination of being able to get out of the house and spend time with mom, and also finding my prodigal piece. So even though the pieces added are taking more time than usual, it isn’t frustrating me as much as earlier in the week. Good news on all fronts!

Hope all is well with you and yours, and I hope you all find time in your day to play. Puzzles, board games, cards, video games, online games, etc. We all deserve a little play time!

Super frustrating day for me 😦 I have found I am missing a piece and it just took the wind out of my sails. I have separated all remaining pieces by shape, and am definitely missing one. I’m sure it’s my fault and that it is somewhere in the house. But I haven’t found it yet and I’m disheartened. It was difficult for me to concentrate and I only added about 100 pieces to the puzzle today.

I’ve been trying to keep this blog lighthearted and positive, even when I don’t have the best day in general, or find myself frustrated by lack of progress on the puzzle. But menopause is kicking my middle-aged behind, and my mood has been pretty awful all week, in addition to being ill with a cold. The ridiculous thing is I know intellectually that I’m being unreasonable, moody and slightly crazy; but I seem to have no ability to stop it. My poor, poor family has to deal with Mood Swing Momma till the hormonal surge has receded.

Hopefully the bright, shiny, positive puzzle lady will be back soon.